The new edition of the Intellectual Property Law Handbook provides an authoritative overview of intellectual property issues facing commercial lawyers. It sets out the principles behind the various IP rights, showing clearly how to apply the law in practice.

The book explores the main types of IP right encountered in commercial practice including copyright, trademarks, patents, design rights and confidential information.

New coverage includes:-

Patent tax regime - the “Patent Box” which will be effective from April 2013

Unified Patents system – a synopsis of the new, recently EU agreed system

Trade marks - several major decisions from the CJEU on the use of trade marks on the internet, key for any company operating a website

Designs - first decisions from the CJEU on the interpretation of the “new” (2001) designs law and how it works in practice

Competition - consultation on revisions to the Technology Transfer Block Exemption, and the enquiry into anti-competitive use of patent rights in the pharmaceutical sector

Copyright - CJEU decisions on how much copying constitutes infringement, and copyright in computer software

An indication of the proposed 2014 copyright reforms

Copyright in 3D objects – the UK Supreme Court Stormtroopers decision

ISPs’ liability and the blocking of pirate websites

CJEU decisions on broadcasting - when does a re-transmission infringe?

Databases - clarification on how much copying constitutes infringement and when copyright may

subsist in a database

Commercial confidential information - how to assess damages.

Further chapters deal with licensing and assignment in the context of transactions, competition and taxation aspects of IP, and digital media and the internet.

Each chapter includes an overview and sets out the relevant law showing how it applies to the most common commercial transactions. The handbook also includes flowcharts to explain complex procedures.